Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-10-22
DETECTING BAD MONEY
HOW BOGUS CURRENCY rs DIScov-
Erred BY EXPERTS.

Greenbacks the Hardest to Counter
felt and the Most Difficult to Dis
coyer-GIass Dollars.
|. Without doubt, the easiest way to
make money is to have a mandatory
of ones own. So evident is this fact
that, although L1oney-tellers have de-
veloped almost marvellous skill in the
detection of counterfeits, and although
the discovery of the fraud often leads to
the incarceration of the perpetrator of it,
there are persons who carry on regular
business of counterfeiting money. There
must be workmen of great skill and ex-
perience, mandatory fitted up with
tools, travelling agents and branch
agencies
Counterfeiting paper money is the
highest branch of this business, as it calls
for the greatest amount of skill and adj
mits of being done on large scale.
The cleverest limitations known are of the
$500 and 81, 900 bills; in fact, so clever
that the issues have been almost entirely
retired by the Treasury. The detection
of spurious money has been reduced to
regular system. The counterfeiter makes
his plate, invariably a single one,
from which he prints. All the
notes of his issue, then, will
be alike, and will have certain points
of difference from the genuine. These
points of difference are described, and all
the counterfeit notes are tabulated, the
new ones being added as fast as they
appear, in quarterly publication which
all bank-tellers and others interested
avail themselves of. 1t can easily be seen
from this why the most dangerous and
Elusive counterfeiter that ever lived was
that man or woman who produced almost
perfect limitations of bank notes with the
pen. OF course he initiated a different
bill each time and by the time the fraud
was detected in any instance the perpe-
traitor of it was likely to be in
some other part of the world. He
was enc of the wealthiest men in the
world. He could draw money when
ever he wished. The detection of spu-
rious coin is no difficult matter. as an
ordinary degree of keenness of percep-
tion in regard to weight, color, and
sound is all that is necessary. Receiving
such money is generally due to careless
ness and the hurry of business. The
popular test for it is throwing it on a
table to see whether it has the right
ring or not. This test is hardly
reliable now, however. as some
shrewd person, who might put
his evident learning and skill to
a more honorable, if not so profitable,
use, is making pad dollars Win the ring
in them. The coin most extensively
tampered with is the silver dollar, and
this person adds glass to give them the
right sound They are made of glass,
in fact, and coated with Babbitt, and
are floating about at the present time
in considerable numbers. They are
brittle, and the bank tellers have a
little hammer. Any suspected coin is
laid down and struck with the hammer
If good it stands the test; if spurious,
like other spurious things in times of
trial, it ''fiies to pieces"
For the detection of counterfeit paper
money the bank teller needs faculties
sharpened by practice and experience.
He must have the skilled eye of the
artist, because so trifing are frequently
the points of difference between the
bogus and the genuine, tnat they would
be likely to elude the attention of an in
experienced person, even after he had
been warned. OF course, such differences
as those pointed out in the following
item, which appeared in the Herald of
last week, are easy of detection, Il one
is looking for them. The reason the
counterfeit is dangerous is that no one
would ever notice such small defects il
his attention were not specially called
to them:
IL.
was received yesterday at the money order
division of the Postofhce. At first sight it
would be taken unhesitatingly, and it is only
when subjected to close inspection under a
microscope that its deficiencies can be noticed,
and that, too, only on the reverse, where the
word engraved is spelled 'engravod," and
the word taxes spelled '"tares. The "bill"
was received here from Bunker Hill, Ind,
whittier il will be returned to the postmaster
of that village for redemption. The cashiers
Of a number Of city banks were shown the
"bill, y and pronounced it the best OF its kind
they had ever examined.
Any one glancing through "Under-
woods Counterfeit Reporter" will see
that some counterfeits are easy of detec-
tion, as whole phrases are changed and
parts of the engraving are left out.
while in others the character of the bill
can only be determined from its general
appearance by practiced eye. The fol-
lowing quotations will illustrate tho first
part Of this statement A So note
issued by the Marine National Bank of
New York is referred to: I'm the genu
inc note the title reads: The Marine Ma
tional Bank Of the City of New York,
City of New York in black panel. In
the counterfeit note the title reads:
The Marine National Bank of New York,
New York only being in the black
panel" Such statement as the follow
ing, taken from the same source, is very
explicit: 'sAll notes on the First Ma
tional Dank of Galena, ILL.,, are fraudu-
lent. No such bank in existence. -
Boston Herald.